Part 8

Famous Last Words
********************************
Oh My God, Rory thought to herself. This is unbearable. I officially hate myself.

I could have just told him "No. That's not what I meant. I don't want to slow things down." I mean, I was thinking those words, but that's probably because I watched a stupid teen movie the night before, and since some girl in the movie told her boyfriend that, the words were in my head. It's like it's been burned into my mind. Things get intense, slow them down. But that just goes to show you how much the media can affect your mind. It made me think I wanted to say that. But I didn't. Maybe I like things fast... like- cars and-and rockets and such. I don't like slow things. I was with Dean for two years. Talk about slow. It was like a sloth.... The point is, I left him for Jess, because I got tired of the sloth. And now, here Jess is, thinking that I want him to be a sloth.

"I hate sloths," she muttered under her breath aloud.

"What?" Jess asked. They'd been sitting at a table together, watching as Lane and Dave slow danced. Jess hadn't asked her to dance, and Rory's initial desire had been to drag him into the hallway and do just what Lane suggested; tell him it had all been a mistake and kiss him before he had a chance to remember all the hoops she'd made him jump through for no reason. But she repressed it. She couldn't come up with a legitimate reason why she didn't, other than the fact that she just couldn't make herself. She told her feet to move-they wouldn't. She felt the same way she had all those months when she knew how she felt about him, but just couldn't bring herself to end things with Dean and fess up. She now remembered why she'd been so miserable during that period of time.

"I didn't say anything," Rory lied through her teeth.

Jess chuckled. "Yeah sure. Whatever you say."

The prom had just started. Most people got there fashionably late, and the fashionable time to arrive was about 15 minutes away. Lane and Dave were having the time of their lives-probably because there was nobody at the dance that they had to hide their relationship from. But Rory was miserable because Jess was treating her like a friend, and not a girlfriend. She knew it wasn't his fault-it was hers. And this caused the most extreme self- hatred she'd ever known.

"So..." Jess awkwardly attempted to start conversation. "Your dress is..." he trailed off.

"Trouble finding the right adjective?" Rory asked.

"I used both 'Nice' and 'Wow' last time, so I'm pretty much drawing a blank."

Rory smiled. "As long as 'Ugly' and 'Unflattering' don't come to mind, I'm satisfied."

Jess chuckled. "Oh, hey. I know. Pretty. That's a good one, right?"

"Very good," Rory giggled. "Hey, have I ever mentioned how good you are at awkward nervous conversation?"

"It's my staple," he said. He examined her face, as though looking for something.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Cuz I gotta tell ya it's a little creepy."

Jess smiled. "You want to dance don't you?"

'Yes!!!' Rory wanted to scream. "No!" was the defensive answer that came flying out of her mouth for God knows what reason. 'You are an idiot,' she thought to herself.

"You don't?" he asked, skeptically. "Cuz the way you've been looking at Dave and Lane all night-you know, that scowl thing where your eyes get all squinted and you do that pouting thing with your lips-it kinda suggested that you might be wishing you were up there dancing instead of over here, scowling and not talking to me." Rory avoided his gaze. "But I could always be wrong," he added.

Rory forced a laugh. "Yeah right. Dancing? Dancing is not my thing, and conveniently it doesn't seem to be yours either... unless you're leading a secret life as a night club break dancer, in which case we'd really need to have a serious discussion."

Jess chuckled. "So you really don't want to dance?"

"No."

"No?"

"No..."

"Not even just a little?"

"Well... maybe a LITTLE. But not enough for me to actually get up and dance, no."

"You're sure?"

"Yep."

"100 percent sure?"

".... Well.... I'd say 97 percent sure. But that's still pretty much sure."

Jess sighed, trying to remain patient. "Rory, do you want to dance?"

"No," she said. ".....ok yes."

Jess smirked. "I knew it."

"You did not."

"It's written all over your face." He stood and offered his hand. "Come on, let's do this before too many people come and see me."

Rory smiled and walked with him to the dance floor, shooting a smile to Lane before wrapping her arms around Jess' neck.

She liked the silence for a while. But as time went on, it just became a reminder of the awkwardness of the situation. Thankfully, just as she thought she could bear the silence no longer, the song that had been playing came to an end. Jess, sensing how uncomfortable Rory was, offered an escape.

"Want food?"

"Don't you know me at all?" she joked.

"I'll get a couple plates. You can sit. I'll be back." He turned to go, but Rory spontaneously pulled him back for a quick kiss.

"Well," he said, "Guess that erases any doubt of your willingness to do anything for a good plate of food." He smiled smugly. "Be back soon."

Rory sat alone, but she wasn't alone for long.

"Hey."

She turned to see Dean standing by her table.

"Dean!" she said surprised. "Hey! What are you doing here?"

"Well mostly I'm here because this is my school," he said, chuckling. "Care to explain your presence?"

"Oh, right," she said, "I forgot for a minute that this isn't my school. I'm just here with-"

"Jess," he said, looking at the ground. "Right. I knew that. That was a stupid question."

"Not any more stupid than my asking what you were doing here," Rory tried to ease his embarrassment. "So," she tried to change the subject. "You having fun?"

"Well so far all I've done is hang up my coat and talk to you. So I guess it's not bad so far. It's got potential."

"Always optimistic," Rory said with a smile.

"So," he said, "Not that I'm anxious to see him, but where exactly is Jess?"

"Oh, he's getting food." Rory pointed him out by the refreshment table, trying to contain her laughter as she saw him trying to discreetly place 5 lemon squares on one of the plates he was holding without the chaperone that manned the table noticing it.

"So Jess has a thing for Lemon squares," Dean observed. "There's something that I'd never have guessed."

"No, actually, he kind of hates all things lemon," Rory corrected him, glad that she and Dean could both see the humor in the situation. "I'm the lemon square fan. He's just getting them cuz he knows how much I like them. That, or he's trying to fatten me up."

"So he can lure you back to his gingerbread house and cook you for dinner?" Dean asked.

"I would imagine so, yes," Rory responded. Dean laughed.

"I just came over here to tell you how great you look," He said. "And I hope that's not totally inappropriate for me to say, as the ex boyfriend."

"Oh no," Rory said, "Not at all. And uh-thank you. You look good, too. The tux-it works for you."

"Yeah right," Dean played it off.

"Well well well," Rory heard Jess' voice behind her. "If it isn't Bag boy."

Dean tried his hardest not to retaliate with an even better insult. He knew this was probably hard on Rory, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he was hoping that if he could always remain the perfect guy in comparison to Jess... well maybe someday she'd wake up and realize it... and want him back.

"And there's the old nickname," he said sarcastically to Jess. "I was beginning to miss it."

"I sensed that," Jess said. He handed Rory her plate. "2 pigs in blankets, a clementine, which considering your intolerance for anything healthy, you probably won't want, and of course five lemon squares."

Rory took the plate thankfully. "Five? Wow, I'm so spoiled. And incredibly grateful."

"Good thing. I had to kill a man for them."

"Twice as grateful." Rory turned her attention abruptly to Dean. She suddenly became aware of how awkward it must be for him to see them interacting the way they normally did.

"So, uh... are you here with Lindsey?" She asked Dean, hoping to God he wasn't there stag. If things hadn't worked out between him and Lindsey since the last time they talked about it, they'd be right back where they were after the breakup-Dean alone and sad, and Rory with Jess, unable to feel anything but guilt around him. And wouldn't that be joyful.

"Yeah, she's just in the bathroom," Dean replied. "You know, doing... girly stuff. Powdering noses and-stuff."

"Powdering noses?" Rory asked amused. Dean smiled, realizing what he'd said.

"I know I know, stupid."

"No, not stupid," Rory said. "It's just I didn't realize it was 1889, that's all."

Dean smiled, but his eyes darted away. "There she is." Rory looked behind her and spotted Lindsey walking over toward them. The look on her face showed rather obviously how strange she thought it was that Rory and Dean still talked.

"I should go," Dean said. "Have a good time."

"Oh but how could we not?" Jess said.

"See ya, Dean!" Rory added.

"So," Jess began, rather awkwardly. "Did you and Dean have a nice conversation?" he asked in an overly sweet voice.

"Yes," Rory retorted, "And I must say, that was an excellent impersonation of my kindergarten teacher."

Jess sighed. "You know he's just with that Lindsey girl cuz he wants to make you jealous, right?"

Rory sighed. "Jess, he does not want to make me jealous."

"Oh please," Jess laughed. "It's beyond obvious. I mean think about it Rory. What guy gets to his senior prom and thinks as soon as he gets through the door, 'Oh, my date's in the bathroom, I think I'll head right over to that table and see how my estranged ex is doing'?"

"Jess, we're hardly estranged. We talk all the time; Dean and I are friends."

"He's trying to make you jealous," Jess insisted.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think YOU were jealous," Rory teased slightly.

"Oh please," Jess laughed. "I'm jealous of bag boy. THAT'S likely."

"So what, you just hate Dean? It has nothing to do with the fact that he was the one thing standing in the way of us getting together most of last year and the year before?" Rory asked skeptically.

"No, that was YOU, remember?" he said, no longer joking around. "Dean was just the guy who was along for the ride." He paused. "I don't hate Dean," Jess insisted, suddenly seeming irritated. "And I am NOT jealous. But don't expect me to just sit back and cool my heels with all the stuff that's going on-"

"Whoa whoa," Rory said, suddenly sensing the anger in his voice. "What's going on? Ten seconds ago you were sarcastic witty Jess, and in the positive sense, and suddenly now you're all angry; what happened?"

"I don't know," Jess retorted. "I guess I'm just spending a little too much time with my bipolar girlfriend and she's rubbing off on me." He looked at the floor. Rory sighed. She knew this night was a potential disaster, and it was certainly living up to its potential.

"Look," she offered quietly, "I'm sensing an oncoming argument, and considering how bad our arguments have been in the past, could we please just have this one someplace that's not so public? And not so much in the middle of the prom?"

Jess sighed. "Yeah. Sure. You lead the way."

Rory turned and headed to the door that led to the hallway. People didn't usually hang out there; there were just lockers. Not very romantic. People usually left the gym and went to the bleachers when they wanted privacy, so she knew they'd really be alone in the hall.

They didn't wait to find a spot to argue. As soon as they were through the door, Jess took the lead, walking so quickly Rory had to speed walk to keep up with him.

"What is the deal? Why are you upset all of a sudden?" Rory asked, following him closely.

"I'm not upset, I'm confused," Jess replied.

"Confused about what?"

"Right now? I'm confused about this."

"This? What's THIS? Could you be a little more vague please?"

"You and me," Jess answered, annoyed. "Something's up, Rory, don't lie to me."

"How could I be lying to you about our relationship? I haven't even SAID anything about our relationship!" she sighed. "Great so now we're both confused."

"If you're gonna break up with me, why don't you just get it over with so we can both move on?"

The words hit her like a ton of bricks. "I'm sorry, what?" she asked, not even sure she'd heard him right.

"There's no reason to drag it out like this," Jess said. "I'm not about to be another version of Dean. He may not have minded sitting around and pretending like your relationship wasn't on it's way out, but I do. So just get it over with, why don't you?"

"Jess, what are you talking about?" Rory asked. "What the hell made you think I was gonna break up with you?"

"Oh come on," Jess said. "Don't play stupid, Rory, it's not exactly your strong point."

"Seriously," Rory said. "I don't understand."

"First, you take me to the prom with you last week, and you seem totally sure about this whole thing. We had the 'I love you' thing down, we slept together, everything was ok. And then suddenly, you flip out on me and you wanna slow things down, and now you and Dean?" he sighed. "I may not have a Chilton education like you, but I can put two and two together."

Rory shook her head, completely stunned. "I don't even know what to say. But I guess I'll start with the fact that you're completely wrong."

"Yeah sure," Jess said skeptically.

"The Dean thing was nothing. He just came over and we started talking. No big deal." She sighed. "And as for the other thing..." she looked up at his face, trying to find a way to say this. But seeing his somewhat relieved expression over his hurt ego, she just didn't want to say anything. Spontaneously, she grabbed his face and kissed him passionately, feeling like it had been ages since she'd felt his lips on hers, even though it had only been a day.

After a few moments, he pulled away. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Doesn't this kind of defeat the purpose of slowing things down?"

Rory laughed at herself. "Well... I don't want to slow things down," she explained. "So I guess that proves your theory huh? Bipolar Rory. It can be my new nick name."

Jess laughed and kissed her. "I like it. Bilpolar Rory and Silly Pony. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

Rory chuckled and kissed his cheek. "I feel like such an idiot. I never wanted this. I never wanted to slow things down. I mean, I was looking forward to this night all week, and just leave it to me to somehow manage to screw it up completely."

"Hey, the night it young," Jess said. "It's not ruined, we've still got time to do..." he tried to suppress his smirk. "... stuff..."

Rory giggled. "Maybe later. I've got a plate full of lemon squares out there waiting-" she started walking away, a mischievous smile playing her lips, but Jess pulled her back gently for another kiss.

"You're mocking me," he muttered.

"Maybe," Rory answered. She sighed. "Where are we gonna go?" she asked.

"I don't know," he answered. "Hey, Luke's not home tonight. We could always go back to the apartment?" he asked hopefully.

"Why isn't Luke home?" Rory asked confused. "He never goes anywhere unless he has a girlfriend, and he hasn't since Nicole. Has he?"

"I don't know," Jess answered. "Some family thing. He's with my mom in New York; he had to see her about something, I don't know..." he trailed off. "The point is, since Luke's in New York, he's not HERE, which means the apartment is empty. Completely empty." He kissed her again. She smiled.

"Ok," she agreed. "It's a 2 minute walk from here. Why not?"

Jess smiled. "Come on, we'll bring the lemon squares with us." His hand on her back, they headed back to the gym.

"So if Luke's there..." she began.

"He's not gonna be there," Jess said.

"But just say he is," Rory said. "What then?"

"Why would he be there? He left this afternoon. I actually saw him get on the bus."

"But let's just say," Rory continued, "that by some strange force of nature, he ended up back in the apartment when we got there? He could have come home early, or maybe just turned back halfway there to get a second baseball cap in case his usual one gets dirty or whatever-"

"He's not gonna be there," Jess repeated.

"And if he is?" Rory echoed.

"Then we say we came back to get a book."

Rory laughed. "In the middle of the prom?" She smiled at Jess. "Ok this brings this whole book worm thing between you and I to a completely obsessive compulsive kind of level."

"Luke's a pretty vulnerable guy. He'd believe it."

"Haven't we kind of worn out the book excuse already?" Rory asked.

"Hey, why not just once more for old time's sake?"

Rory snickered. "You're crippling your creative energy."

"So we'll get it a cane." He picked up her plate of lemon squares. "Here you go."

"Thank you," she said. "Hold on, let me just go tell Lane where we're going."

"Why so she can come by later and hang out with us?" Jess asked sarcastically.

"I'll be right back," Rory ignored his comment.
*********************************************
Rory approached Lane and Dave, talking in the corner.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," she said to Dave.

"Hey," Lane said, as if suddenly remembering that there were other people there besides Dave. "How are things going?"

Rory grinned. "Things are great," she said, and Lane nodded, understanding that Rory meant that things with Jess were fixed.

"I'm glad," she said. "So what's up?"

"Oh not much, we're just gonna go back to the apartment for a while," Rory tried to say casually, but it was completely obvious what she meant.

"Ahhh," Lane said nodding. "Gonna check out a book, huh?"

Rory sighed. "I told him that excuse was overdone."

"Well it's a tradition now," Lane offered. "It would be a shame to stop using it."

"Right," Rory laughed. "Well, we might be back later, we might not... depends."

"Have fun," Lane called as Rory headed toward the door.
***********************************
"After you," Jess said, opening the door to the upstairs apartment. Luckily, Luke was still gone, as expected, although Rory had thoroughly searched the entire front floor of the diner to make absolutely sure.

She was inexplicably nervous again... but in a good way. She knew what to expect mostly. But she knew this time that they would both be less worried about it, and they could just relax.

She walked through the door and Jess followed, closing the door behind him. He reached for the light switch but before he could she told him not to turn them on; people on the street could see into the apartment when the lights were on. Somewhat taken aback by her behavior, Jess did as he was told, and watched as she closed all the shades in the room.

"Rory, are you really that paranoid that somebody's gonna-" she broke his sentence off with a long kiss.

"Wow," he said with a slight smile. His arms still around her waist, they stumbled into his room and closed the door behind them. "From what I can see so far, prom nights are the BEST."

She giggled slightly, but was way to preoccupied with one thought; kissing him. She did so softly, moving on eventually to his cheek and his neck as he often did with her. She didn't usually do things like that, but she just didn't care at that time if she was being too aggressive or anything. She just liked having him near her; hearing his heavy breaths, feeling his arms pulling him as close to her as they possibly could. When they were together like that, kissing, it was the time when he seemed the strongest and the most vulnerable at the same time... and she loved that.

She pushed his jacket back off of his shoulders and started unbuttoning his shirt, never breaking the kiss. The kisses deepened as his shirt fell to the floor; the feeling of his bear, warm skin was completely intoxicating. His hands fumbled, trying to unzip the back of her dress, and he reluctantly pulled his lips from hers.

"Ok," he said. "This is just too difficult to do while kissing."

"Yeah you're right," Rory agreed, still out of breath. She turned around and he pulled the zipper down, although she didn't let the dress fall from her body immediately. She turned back to him and fell back into the kiss, only to be once more interrupted by the phone ringing in the corner. Jess pulled away slightly.

"Just ignore it, the machine will get it," he said as he kissed her neck.

"Luke?" said an annoyingly familiar voice over the machine. "This is about the soda shoppe."

Rory and Jess stopped short.

"Oh God," Jess said.

"Taylor," Rory named the phantom speaker. She sighed, suddenly remembering how Taylor had a tendency to leave 6 or 7 minute long messages on machines; if the machine cut him off, he would just call again and pick up right where he'd left off.

"Call me crazy," Jess said, "But I don't wanna do this with Taylor's voice in the background."

"Thank god you don't," Rory sighed, relieved. "Otherwise, I'd be a little freaked out right now."

"Hold on," he said, reluctantly pulling himself away from her. He ran to the phone, picked up the receiver, and slammed it right back down. "Maybe now he'll get the point that we don't wanna hear it," he said, walking back across the room and resuming the kiss. But moments later the phone rang again.

"Damn it!" Jess yelled. He walked over to the phone just as Taylor began his second message, and pulled the wire angrily from the wall, before opening his bedroom door and violently throwing the phone into the next room. He walked back to Rory and pulled one of the straps off her shoulder, kissing her collarbone.

"We should remember to clean that up before we leave," Rory said.

Jess snickered. "Neat freak," he mumbled between kisses, trying to pull his belt off. Rory laughed.

"Why did you wear a belt?" she asked amused.

"I was playing hard to get," he retorted, leading her gently to the bed. They fell rather ungracefully upon it, nearly rolling off the side. They stayed that way for a few minutes before Rory pulled away with a sigh.

"Ok. Firstly? There is no way my dress will come off while I'm horizontal like this. Secondly, we both still have shoes on. And lastly, there's some weird whirring noise in the background and it's really distracting." She sat up. Jess stood and pulled his shoes off.

"It's next door at Taylor's shop," he said. "Some weird machine, on all hours of the night. Want music to cover it up?"

"Definitely," Rory said, moving aside the covers so she could jump under them as quickly as possible after slipping off her dress.

Jess fingered through his CDs, naming them under his breath as he went. "Tool, Garbage, Disturbed, the Clash, the Kidney thieves-what the hell!?" he kicked the wall, totally frustrated. "Why don't I have any normal, not angry, non-violent music?"

Rory giggled. "Um, because you're YOU," she answered, standing up. "Here." She leafed quickly through the music and, in moments, found a Jesus and Mary Chain CD, which she handed to Jess. He nodded.

"Impressive," he said. He put it in the cd player, and Sometimes Always began. After a few moments, he became aware of her near nudity, and tried his hardest not to make her uncomfortable. Within moments, Rory quickly got back under the covers. Jess sat on the bed next to her with a sigh.

"So here we are," he said.

"On the bed," Rory completed the thought. He nodded. "Now what?" she asked.

He smiled. "I have a few ideas." Slowly, he leaned over Rory and kissed her softly. She gave in completely. The music, the darkness, the entire setting was perfect; and so she was finally able to just let herself relax and stop worrying about the consequences. Everything was going to be ok; how could it not be?
***************************************
"But what did he mean?" Lorelai whined to Sookie, who was in the process of making a stew.

Sookie chuckled. "Lorelai, isn't it obvious by now?"

"Isn't what obvious?" she asked frustrated, "the fact that he blames me for the failure of all his past relationships?"

Sookie laughed. "Lorelai, honey, I know you're brilliant, but when it comes to Luke, you are so completely clueless that sometimes I just don't know what to do with you."

Lorelai sighed. "Well spell it out for me, Sook, because I obviously am not getting it."

Sookie smiled. "Lorelai, think for a second. Think about Luke."

"Sookie, we're talking about Luke. I'm already thinking about Luke. Let's move forward!"

"Close your eyes," Sookie said, adding some more spices to the pot.

"What? Why do I have to close my eyes?"

"Because," Sookie said, "I want you to be picturing him in your mind."

"Sookie-!"

"Just do it!"

Lorelai sighed and reluctantly closed her eyes. "Ok, I'm picturing Oscar the Grouch himself. Now what?"

"Ok," Sookie said. "Think hard. How long since the last time he did you a completely unnecessary, incredibly nice favor for you?"

"I don't know. A couple weeks maybe. Why?"

"A couple weeks? Try a couple days," Sookie said. "I mean, he didn't have to fix the porch railing for you last week, but he did anyway."

"Are you getting at something, Sookie?" Lorelai asked, "Cuz I'd really like to open my eyes sometime soon."

"Come on Lorelai. Work with me. Luke is nicer to you than anybody in Stars Hollow-"

"Not true, he's nicer to Rory than he is to me."

"That's because Rory is YOUR daughter," Sookie said. "You guys get really good service at the diner. I mean when was the last time you paid for anything there?"

"Sookie just tell me, please?"

Sookie pulled the ladle out of the pot and held it up threateningly. "Lorelai, don't make me hit you with the ladle!"

Lorelai opened her eyes. "Ok, this is ridiculous, Sookie," she said. "You're trying to get me to believe that Luke has feelings for me. Like romantic feelings."

Sookie sighed, relieved. "Thank god you're not as clueless as you were pretending to be."

Lorelai shook her head. "He does not, Sookie. Luke does not have romantic feelings for me, ok? Cuz that would just be way too weird. Disturbing almost. I mean, we've known him forever, he's like a father to Rory almost- "

"Which would make him like a husband to you," Sookie said. "Deal with it Lorelai. Luke likes you."

"No he doesn't."

"Yes he does."

"Does not."

"Does too."

"Does not."

"Does too-oh my god, this is ridiculous, JACKSON!!!!!!"

Jackson came into the kitchen. "Mmmm, something smells amazing," he said, kissing Sookie's cheek.

"Jackson," Sookie said. "Tell Lorelai that Luke is head over heels for her."

"Don't do it Jackson!" Lorelai pleaded.

"Lorelai," Jackson said, "Luke is head over heels for you."

"Traitor," Lorelai muttered.

Jackson turned back to Sookie. "Anything else, honey?"

"Nope, that's all sweetie. Dinner'll be ready in 20 minutes."

"Ok," Jackson said. He kissed Sookie, and promptly left the kitchen.

"Not fair," Lorelai protested. "He had to agree with you, he's your husband. You guys ganged up on me."

"Lorelai!" Sookie laughed. "Wake up, honey! Luke has had a thing for you since... well, I don't know when it all started, but it's been years that this has been going on. Now I know that on some level, you know he does. I know you don't wanna admit it to yourself, but come on Lorelai. Time to come back to reality. Cuz he's not gonna wait around for you forever. Someday he's gonna get tired of hearing you complain about your current boyfriends while he serves you coffee." Sookie sighed. She examined Lorelai's face before asking, "What are you thinking?"

Lorelai sighed, completely unable to form any kind of coherent thought. "I don't know, Sook," she said. "I just-I don't know, I guess I just have to think a while." She stood. "I'm gonna go."

Sookie sighed. "Lorelai, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out. You can stay for dinner if you want to."

Lorelai shook her head with a slight smile. "It's all right. I'm just gonna head home and have some leftover Chinese food before it goes bad." She headed toward the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sookie."
********************************************
"You want whipped cream or chocolate syrup?" Jess called, peering inside the refrigerator.

"Both!" Rory called back from the bed, her eyes never leaving the opened copy of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil on her lap.

Jess chuckled to himself. He still couldn't understand how she and her mother managed to eat so much and not look like Sumo Wrestlers. He carried the pint of chocolate ice cream, the whipped cream bottle and the Hershey's chocolate syrup back to his bed. Without even looking up, Rory said, "You forgot spoons."

He sighed. "Be right back," he said, walking back to the kitchen. Rory closed her book, wrapped her sheet closer to herself and wandered to his closet. She slipped on a baggy Sex Pistols Tee shirt and sat back on the bed as Jess returned with spoons. He handed her one with a smirk.

"Sharing clothes now, are we?"

She smiled sheepishly. "I was cold."

He sat beside her and opened the pint of ice cream. "It's fine by me," he said. "Besides, it looks better on you than it does on me."

She slipped her legs under the covers. "You're just saying that cuz I'm your girlfriend and you have to say things like that to me."

Jess put some whipped cream on the ice cream. "Oh come on. Does this face look like one that would lie to you?"

"That all depends," Rory answered. "If I say yes, will you still give me the ice cream?"

"Probably not."

"Then my answer is no," Rory said with a smile. "Ice cream please?"

He handed her the carton reluctantly. "You wanna borrow Midnight in the garden of good and evil?"

"Of course," Rory said through a mouthful of whipped cream. "They made an awful movie out of it, so it MUST have been a really good book."

"You can take it with you when we leave," he said. He paused, examining the book cover, trying to figure out how to ask the question that was on his mind.

"So you're really not telling Lorelai about it?" he blurted out.

"About what?" Rory pretended not to know what he meant.

"About all this," he said gesturing to the messy bed vaguely. "The events of the past 40 minutes. Do you need me to be more obvious?"

Rory sighed. "No," she said. "I'm really not telling my mom about all this."

"And that's not weird for you or anything?" he asked. "I mean, I've never really been able to understand this bizarre mother-daughter, best friends, talk about everything deal, but... it doesn't take an idiot to see that you guys enjoy telling each other absolutely everything that ever happens in your lives."

"I know," Rory said. "But I just... I REALLY don't want to tell her about this. I've tried to keep secrets from her before, and it never worked but... all those times, I didn't keep secrets because I wanted to, I kept secrets because I thought I had to. So now, I guess... I just don't mind. It's not that hard."

Jess nodded. "Well, that's... good." He paused. "Just-I mean, if you ever do feel the oncoming urge to fess up to Lorelai, could you just... you know, give me a couple days warning? So I can safely and discreetly skip town before she comes after me with a gun?"

Rory chuckled a little. "Of course. I mean it's only fair to give you a couple days' head start."

Jess smiled. "If you still wanna make it back to the prom before it's over, we should go soon."

Rory nodded. "Fine. But can I borrow your sex pistols tee shirt next time I come over here?"

Jess rolled his eyes, putting his shirt back on. "Yeah. Whatever. Just don't shrink it in the dryer or anything."

"I promise," she answered, standing up and slipping back into her dress. "Zip me up?" she asked him. He did; of course, he used his close proximity to her neck as an opportunity to kiss it, but she stopped him reluctantly.

"Don't start," she commanded with a smile, facing him. "You know I have no will power against you when you do that, and we don't have time. We should have been back 15 minutes ago. We're going to start looking suspicious."

Jess put his jacket on. "How scandalous! The town's favorite teenage girl running around with the local troublemaker. Maybe they'll discuss it at the next town meeting."

"Stop mocking me," Rory said. "Now be honest; do I have really bad bed hair?"

Jess sighed. "It looks perfectly normal." He opened the door to let her go first down the stairs, and then followed her. "Stop worrying, nobody's gonna know."

"Yeah sure," Rory said. "Famous last words."
A/N: Ugh school weeks are the worst. I'm sorry it's been taking so long for me to update lately. I've been super busy. I'm trying my hardest for the quality not to go down just because I've been busy, but if it has, please feel free to say so. Sorry there were no lyrics in this chapter; I couldn't find any that worked right. As always, if you read and review, you are my God!!!! I love you guys, more comes soon.

~Emaline